Happy Birthday, Susna!

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Finis!

Finally finished something!  My "Galadriel's Mirror" shawl is all done.  It is really pretty, though you can not tell by looking at the picture.  This was a marathon project by the end; I timed how long it took to knit across 1 row -- ONE HOUR.

But worth the work!  Now must find somewhere to wear my pretty shawl.  Besides down to the basement.

It's On the Way!

We all have our secret literary vices, books we love that we might need to put in a plain brown wrapper when we're reading them in public (maybe THIS is why I should get a Kindle after all).

Mine is Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series.  I love these books, even though they probably aren't the most highbrow reading material.  She does spend years researching each book, so at least there's a lot of archaeology to be learned. 

The latest book is on its way from Amazon!  I can't decide whether I should tear through it as fast as I can read, or take it slow and savor it.  After all, she only publishes a new one about every 10 years.

Thank god for Ann Rule and her yearly true-crime book, my other secret reading vice.

Now not secret.  You know my shame.

Victory

Yay!  My unemployment claim FINALLY got approved!  Now I can starve more slowly (jk, thanks to my wonderful kids, I am in no danger of starvation or homelessness.  Though they do make me watch craptastic TV shows)

Creepasaurus Rex!

I was adding some pattern books to my website, and came across this uber-creepy little guy.  You just KNOW he grew up to be some kind of perv.

The Royal Family Update

I'm currently still working on Wills.  I took a trip to Joann's today to obtain some the little doo-dads I'll need for the outfits (sequins, beads, gold braid, crystals and on and on.)  $30.00 later I have a bag of stuff to fancy up the whole royal fam.  Damn them and their love of sparkly things.

Susna, DO NOT buy any of this, I'm sure I have plenty for both of us!

The Return of Pepper Saltzman!

Last night's ep of Modern Family marked the return of our favorite gay, the one and only PEPPER SALTZMAN.  That name is all kinds of win.  And so is Nathan Lane.

Love him.  Love Cameron and Mitchell.  Even love cranky neighbor Mr. Kleezak.  AND one of the gays at "Boy's Night" was named LONGINUS.  Love.

Team Spliff

As a loyal Cougs alum, I am proud to know that the men's basketball team behaves EXACTLY like we did back in our college days!!!  Yay Team Spliff!

If I had Photoshop, I'd be spending all day figuring out how to add a joint to the Cougar Logo.

Farewell Liz T

Elizabeth Taylor died today, for some reason I thought that would never happen.  She was such an icon of fabulousness --- the original Queen of Fuckingfantastica.  You youngs may not remember her, but she was totes hot in her youth:

And for some reason, I worship this picture of La Liz in her super groovy hot pants and go-go boots.  R. Burton in the white shoes, not so much.

Watch "National Velvet" or "Lassie Come Home".  I dare you not to fall in love with her.

Wills Has A Face!

And Hair.  With a somewhat receding hairline.  And the "Windsor Ears".

Sick Day

Pia is home sick today.  Which means really, really bad tv.  Right now, she is coughing weakly, laying on the couch wrapped in "WUBS" (World's Ugliest Blanket), and watching "MacGruber".  Not sure which is making me feel worse, listening to her hack or listening to the utter stupidity of this movie.

Naked Wills!

Sorry, not the real deal :-)  Here's my little naked Prince William (he gets a face and hair today).  Kind of a square head, but what do I know, maybe the royals all have heads like Spongebob.

Royals Fever!

I heart the Royal Family.  Like you wouldn't believe.  Don't ask why, they are even nuttier than my own family (maybe that's why I love em so much).  So of course I'm on pins and needles waiting for the Royal Wedding aka the Most Important Event of This Decade.

So I was thrilled to pieces to find this book (thanks Katie!), and so wanted to knit my complete Wedding Party, including the corgis, before The Big Day.  But the book isn't available yet in the US, and I'm poor, so having it mailed from the UK wasn't in the budget.

You will understand how very much I love the Royal Fam when I tell you that I overcame my revulsion at the idea of reading a book on my Blackberry when I found that I could buy it on Amazon for Kindle for eight bucks and download it today!  Hoorah!

I'm off to find yarn and needles to start knitting.  I'll be having a tea party and re-enacting the wedding with my little dollies on the big day!

Happy Spring!

I cannot believe today is the first day of Spring!  Winter is over, yay! 

In honor of Spring springing, here's a picture by one of my favorite artists, Carl Larsson.  If I win the lottery, I'm going to have a house just like Carl's.  Note the knitting on the table?  Picture me sitting right there.

Katie says I need to be the gardener this summer, since I am mostly recovered from "bwoken awm" (as Mikey says).  Our soil is too cold and wet to do anything with yet, but we DO have room in the basement to start some seeds...

That Was Painful

Ouch.  Our men's team just got "Jimmered" by BYU in the NCAA tournament.  Man, I hate that guy.  But he sure can put the ball in the basket.  And we evidently forgot how to do that.

Oh, well.  Back in December no one thought the Zags would even GET to the tournament, so we should be proud that they worked their way out of what looked like a horrible season.  And the women's team is still in!

Can't quite bring myself to cheer for the Huskies...and I'm definitely hoping someone squashes BYU real real bad.

Our Favorite Mascots

Katie just wrote my favorite blog post ever, about all the ridiculous mascots for the various college teams in the NCAA tournament.  Which got me searching for some pictures:

 The Ohio State Buckeye "Brutus" mascot is a nut.  I really really wish they'd revert to the original mascot outfit (left) where he is just a giant head with legs sticking out.

The Akron "Zips" were named after this pair of rubber boots with zippers (see ad above).  Hmm, that doesn't seem too scary either. Especially since they are ladies' boots.

Hanging out with Zaide

my sister is possibly the world's best grandma (along with my other sister Susna), and I'm so jealous of these gals with their grandbabies.  While I was in Seattle last week, I got a chance to accompany "Zaide" on her weekly outing with the girls.  Poor Hadley had a bit of a flu bug and couldn't go (although she begged to be allowed to come along, promising to "take my red medicine" so she'd be well), so it was just Maddie and Allie on our trip to the Science Center.  I haven't been there since my kids were little, and evidently science has advanced a tad in the last 20 years.  We had a grand time, although Allie was NOT impressed with the animatronic dinosaurs.  Here are some pix of our day:

These little girls are so cute!  Allie's fudgies were TDF, and Maddie's braids, love them.  Mads is endlessly curious, completely fearless and her favorite thing was the NAKED MOLE RATS exhibit.  GAK, those things were hiddy. 

After the SC, Zaids and I had lunch and visited with Megan, Hadley, and CARSON! who was wearing his Monster Pants, which fit like a glove.  No, I didn't get any pictures, damn it.  Hads and I snuggled on the couch and watched Caillou, which is her current favorite show (why do kids like that bald kid?  He's super annoying).  Carsie is getting bigger by the minute.  What a cute family!  Jealous x a zillion.

Christmas Comes Again!

I love a late Christmas gift.  Lis delivered this darling package o goodies to me the other day.  New towels!  Yay!  I've been using the ones I stole from the Y, so a new set is most welcome.  Plus a candle and bath stuff (?) I don't want to trek to the bedroom to double check on the contents, but all are most appreciated!

Party Like a Princess!

Yesterday was Hadley's 4th birthday Princess Party, and I was lucky enough to be in town, so got to attend.  Lots of little princesses were there, the noise level was insanely high what with the princesses, and the dads in the other room cheering for the Huskies (a grudging congrats to the UW for winning the tournament), and being as it was Megan & Ryan, I got to drink enough to survive one more day of Mom telling me someone (or her evil children, depending on her memory) took her car away...

Here are some (as usual) bad cell phone pix from the party:

CINDERELLA CAME!  Brills.  This gal painted faces, made balloon animals, and generally enthralled the little girls with her princess-y beauty.  Here's a very serious Hadley in her Snow White costume getting a unicorn painted on her cheek.

Allie carbo-loading.  Zaide dressed the girls in pink princess duds, and they were TDF.  Allie's shoes were so fab you couldn't believe it.  I didn't get a pic of them bc it's hard to keep clear plastic slippers with kitten heels and multi-colored feathers on your feet when you are only 2 (or 62 let's face it), but trust me, RuPaul would kill for them.

Maddie was utterly beautiful and I'm not kidding.  She was a vision in pink, with her pretty long hair, and Zaids put some eye makeup on her which made her even more gorgeous.  She did NOT get Thomas on her cheek, surprisingly. 

Poor Ben was one of the few males at this pink poodle parlor.  He was very natty in his bow tie (totes reminds me of Little Tony at that age).  Carsie was there too, but Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Mike wouldn't let go of him (jk GC & GM, sort of.  SHARE NEXT TIME)

And here's Lauren getting a butterfly.  She is looking very grown up all of a sudden!  Must be because Bieber Fever has set in.  I didn't get any good pix of Logan and Tatum, sorry girls!  But trust me, they were there, they were sparkly, and they were adorable.

PS Megan I want that chili recipe!

Happy News!

Just heard through the grapevine (aka Katie saw it on Chase's Facebook page) that our baby brother Jon is going to be a GRANDPA!!!!  Derek and Katie (not MY Katie, alas) are expecting a baby boy.  Lorraine reports that Jon is over the moon and will not allow her to throw or give ANYTHING away, because they will need it for the baby.

Congrats!

Just in Time for Fat Tuesday!

My favorite show, Mad Men, has had so many memorable drunk scenes, and their website highlighted some of them today.  Ah, drinking in the 60s.  I remember Mom and Dad sitting down with their pitcher of martinis when Dad got home from work.  Stylish!

I think my favorite MM drunk scene was when Don got pissed at Roger for making a pass at Betty.  He took him out for a big lunch of oysters and booze, then arranged for the office elevator to be "out of service", meaning they had to walk up 23 flights of stairs.  Roger promptly vomited all over an important client's shoes.  Revenge is sweet.

This Could be The Straw that Breaks the Virginians' Backs

I just read in the paper that this is year 13 in the cicada's life cycle, which means that these red-eyed super loud bugs will be crawling out all over the Southeast, folks.

I KNOW that Fred & Irene are terrified of cicadas.  This could be the thing that gets them back to the right side of the country!

Dying of Cuteness

These are supposed to be a surprise for CARSON! but they are so effing adorable I have to post a picture right now.

Monster Pants!  With monster face on the butt.  They should make this pattern for adults (at least for adults whose butts are not ginormous, don't want to terrify the children).

Meg, I think these should fit your little Stretch Armstrong.  The sort of bad part is I made them using wool yarn -- very nice and warm but have to be hand washed and dried.  Oops.  Just rip them off before he poops.

Just in Time for Easter!

Check out this insane site:

Lord of the Peeps

Wish I was this clever!  All I can do with Peeps is put toothpicks in their 'hands' and microwave them for Peep Jousting.

It's the Little Things That Make Me Happy

Over the years, I have purchased probably 10,000 stitch markers for my knitting.  And the ONLY ONES I can ever find are the crappy Susan Bates red and blue plastic ones that date from about 1973.  These are the world's most terrible markers.  And I always have plenty of them and curse whenever I'm forced to use them.

So I finally broke down and bought a couple of packages of nice flexible markers.  Which make me very happy.  And will probably immediately get lost.  If I took the time to dig down in the couch and chairs here, I'd probably find 9,999 of the missing good markers.